SpaceX and the potential for disaster.

Well, clearly stating "people will die" in this case, is actually a very IMPORTANT answer!

If you're preparing a presentation or discussion, or research paper on that topic, that needs to be made clear.

People who volunteer for this journey need to know the risks.


NOTE: when I say this, I'm not saying that SpaceX will simply shrug their shoulders, and cut corners and say something like "deal with it, people will die".

That's NOT the attitude of SpaceX. In fact it's quite the opposite!

Instead I'm saying something far-far more profound:

I'm saying that SpaceX will, by far, MORE than any other space organization that has ever come before in history (such as NASA with the Apollo and Shuttle missions, and the Russian missions)... SpaceX will more than anyone else that has ever come before, conduct EXTREME testing, to the point of multiple failures, of their Starship vehicle, BEFORE any humans fly onboard.

And yet despite all those unprecedented efforts, and a completely new way of approaching spaceship design that vastly mitigates risks...

People are still going to die.


To put the comparison more simply and succinctly: the very first shuttle that ever flew was with humans (John Young and Bob Crippen), which was an INSANELY huge risk. In fact I was there for the launch in 1981! And I'll tell you one thing:

Pretty much everyone thought it was a suicide mission.

Thank goodness we were wrong!

I think history has forgotten the risk and sacrifice that John Young and Bob Crippen undertook with that flight.

Again: a lot of engineers thought they were never coming back.


So right there... you can see a HUGE difference in culture between the current SpaceX program and the old Shuttle program.

The development of Starship is following a completely different pathway than the space shuttle, in which the risks are being taken in advance, and the technology is being pushed to its limits multiple times BEFORE any humans even get near flying on that thing into space.


Anyways, you seem to be rigidly in your mind, keep trying to keep EQUATE the risks of this current program, to the risks of the old shuttle program, but those risk levels are NOTHING alike. It's NOT a good thing to try to conflate/equate them!

Again, it's a completely different development cycle, and mentality.

As for your wish to know more about the technical details... ya... I don't blame you for that wish: I too would like to know far more technical details about the SpaceX Starship program as well! But... turns out... SpaceX isn't giving away intricate documents/secrets about the ship, and the overall plans, in a nice convenient format to read!

Instead, if you want to know about the culture of this program, vs the old Shuttle program then you need to do 2 things:


1) Get up to speed on the way that Starship is being developed, and the VERY NEW culture of acceptance of failure (just as along as there are no humans onboard).

A great video that captures the essence of that spirit by SpaceX, and their willingness to push things until they explode and fail all over the place, is probably this beautiful and artisitic video compilation put together by Cosmic Perspective, called Valhalla.

2) You need to better compare the current SpaceX culture, to the older past Shuttle development culture of the 1970's and 1980's of the Space Shuttle program, particularly as to why the heck they even thought it would be a good idea to risk 2 human lives onboard the first launch!? That might entail interviewing people from that era, and looking more deeply at the Space Shuttle development culture of that era. (If you don't connect with those of that era, or more documents of that era, then your comparison points may not be as strong for your report.)


But ya... sadly for us both... in the end there's no magical document of technical specifications from SpaceX that will clarify all this for you. SpaceX isn't going to hand their technical specifications over to you or I!

Plus not all of the Shuttle era technical specifications survive or are easily available.

Instead, I guess you need to switch into investigative detective mode to get to a deeper truth, and try digging and researching, and get a better feel for the past Shuttle program and what's happening today in Boca Chica.


And most of all, whatever you find...

Again, don't forget: people will die.

I know you don't like that answer, but even though the current program is light years ahead of the old Shuttle era attitudes towards safety... Nevertheless flying off into the cosmos, on the most dangerous and most adventurous mission and journey humans have ever embarked upon... (leaving our own home planet!) to an entirely different new world and new planet... will cost some lives.

The Universe is still very mysterious, and even interplanetary space packs some dangerous surprises that await us!

But that's why we dare to venture outward!

/r/SpaceXLounge Thread Parent